Nativism, as a force in this state and beyond, must be crushed like a fat, hairy tarantula beneath a boot heel.

So while I admire the effort that the Real Arizona Coalition has put into its recently rolled-out S.A.N.E. immigration initiative, the participation of Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery is troublesome.

S.A.N.E. is shorthand for a set of basic suggestions by the coalition, itself a passel of sober-minded businesspeople, politicians, and community leaders who seek an incremental push-back to the ethnic McCarthyism that still defines Arizona.

Stephen Lemons

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery pivots on immigration. Now let’s see him walk the talk.

You can read the details at www.therealarizona.org. Essentially, it's a low-cal version of comprehensive immigration reform and includes a pathway to legal residency (though not necessarily citizenship) for the undocumented, as well as a loosening of restrictions on immigration.

The DREAM Act? Not exactly. Under the plan, kids brought into the country illegally by their parents may qualify for citizenship if they graduate from a university or college or serve in the military.

Significantly, S.A.N.E. does not require that the border be secured before addressing immigration reform.

That's always been a sticking point for many GOPers, though, in reality, the border already is heavily militarized. Essentially, this prerequisite has existed as an all-purpose excuse for Rs not to budge on the issue.

Overall, the proposal is conservative, and given that we live in the "meth lab of democracy," as Jon Stewart famously called our state, I guess you could call it a baby step forward.

A lot of people I respect have worked hard on S.A.N.E., including the Arizona Anti-Defamation League's Bill Straus, Julie Erfle of Politics Uncuffed, Todd Landfried of the Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, and Danny Ortega, ex-chair of the National Council of La Raza.

The big chambers of commerce, Arizona's and Phoenix's, are absent. But smaller business groups have signed on.

Local media have gushed over the initiative, prominently citing the endorsement of Montgomery, its most conservative advocate.

The coalition's press release quotes the right-winger as insisting that we "move from stalemate to solutions on the broader issue of immigration" toward a "sensible approach."

I'll give Montgomery two points — maybe three — for being smart enough to know that Republican politicians have to move to the center on immigration.

Nationally, it's a no-brainer. In the wake of Mitt Romney's disastrous loss, with more than 70 percent of Hispanics voting for President Barack Obama, you'd have to be as deranged as Governor Jan Brewer's criminally insane son not to grok that neon-lit message.

And yet too many Arizona Republicans all but have "Senate Bill 1070" tattooed to their foreheads, Brewer chief among them.

The bottle-blond hag got elected on 1070 and became a heroine to the hard right by spending millions to defend it. Brewer owes everything she has politically to bashing Mexicans.

Her latest racist stunt: an illegal, discriminatory executive order denying driver's licenses to DREAM Act-eligible men and women granted a reprieve under Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The ACLU is suing Arizona in federal court, seeking to enjoin Brewer's repulsive move on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause and its 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law.

You know, like herself in 1988, when she rear-ended another car and failed field-sobriety tests administered by Arizona Department of Public Safety officers, all the time reeking of scotch.

But the law didn't apply to this desiccated harpy because she was in the state Senate at the time, and she pulled her amnesty, um, I mean, immunity card.

If cynical politicians like former state Senate President Russell Pearce, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Sheriff Paul Babeu, or Brewer fell to their knees, begged forgiveness for scapegoating Latinos, and signed onto S.A.N.E., should we forgive their past sins?

Hell, no. When this crew keels over, one by one, of natural causes, Latinos should stand in line for miles to dance on their graves.

Not that we can count on the aforementioned Tea Party pols ever having come-to-Jesus-moments. They have to be extricated from power, as already has happened to Pearce. Or, in the case of Arpaio, boxed in 'til he's irrelevant.

During Montgomery's 2010 GOP primary bid against then-acting County Attorney Rick Romley, he excoriated Romley for what was a true profile in courage — Romley's public suggestion that Brewer veto 1070.

Indeed, Montgomery pimped himself as the ultra-conservative alternative to Romley, appealing to haters at nativist gatherings.

Illegal Immigrants have crushed the construction industry. My first day in construction, 26 years ago, I was making $8.50 an hour. Today when you first start you will be making $10.50 an hour. Doesn't seem like much of difference does it? This was caused by illegals coming in and taking our jobs for much cheaper. The reason no one wants to do construction work is that the pay is so low. It should be much higher. In my opinion these guys should make $20 to $25 an hour, not $12 or $15 for guys who have been doing it a long time.

Another crisis is the home building industry. It makes much more financial sense to buy an existing home for half the price of a new one. This is a huge dilemma for the home builders, so they have to find a way to build these homes for much cheaper. Cut every corner and hire cheap labor, so they are in favor of illegal immigration.

We are on a slippery slope here, maybe if we give them amnesty they can all become reporters and work for a third of what the guy who wrote this article was paid. They can all become attorneys and work for a third of a third.

100 percent for this! The 16 year old child that is born in the United States under the 14th amendment is a protected US citizen. The ILLEGAL ALIEN parents are not! So the parents get deported and the 16 year old can go into foster care until they become of age. If an ILLEGAL ALIEN is in this country more than 5 years without starting citizenship or applying for a visa then tuff turkey if the BP/ ICE/or your local LEO hauls them off.

a·li·en-Belonging to a foreign country or nation.

IMMIGRANT: one that immigrates: asa : a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence

20 million unemployed Americans and another 45 million on food stamps and the New Times wants us to give amnesty to another 20 million more workers and welfare recipients? THIS IS MADNESS! This will drive up unemployment, drive down wages and reduce the availability of social services for working class Americans. We have 15% unemployment in the US today and depressed wages, it is sad to see that the New Times favors criminal immigrants over poor native-born Americans.

If you can change the Constitution concerning the right to bear arms, you certainly can change the Constution towards not allowing Illegal Mexican Occupiers’ children born in the US automatically having citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment was written in a different time, under different circumstances. It was never meant to automatically give citizenship to any child born on US soil with non legal resident parents. This needs to be clarified immediately.

Why would the ptb want to increase the population with such huge numbers of people when their base is suffering so badly. Marketing futures in dead peasant policies? That such a thing exists in a nation where slavery is illegal and abhorred as immoral should give one pause to reconsider what is true.

"War All the Time" ?????? Yes, there has been a war on wages - COL to earnings ratio, benefits, career ladders - there has been a war on everything good and legal that made the US a desirable immigration destination. You function as troll for the stingy teabag NWO global slave wage or die iniative. If my desire for restoration of the "American DREAM" and honoring the "Contract with America" makes me a "Nativist" I wear the designation proudly. Illegal immigrants of the brown persuasion did not come here to wipe old white ass in a nursing home. That was not their DREAM either.

This article shows that Stephen Lemons has really cracked up this time. There should be a law against people like him. Just what the fuck is he talking about ... babbling rubbish again like he always does. What ajoke!

Lemons, you are totally wrong. You wrote, "Nativism, as a force in this state and beyond, must be crushed like a fat, hairy tarantula beneath a boot heal." Unlike natavism, there is no good reason to crush a tarantula. Tarantulas serve a purpose and contribute to a healthy environment. A much better analogy would have been, "Nativism, as a force in this state and beyond, must be injected with venim and left to die a nasty, painful death like prey caught in a tarantula's grasp." That would have been a more fitting analogy.

@JoeArpaioFan You certainly don't do your hero any favors by posting your nonsense and you've never made any logical statement or argument that would influence even the most feeble mind to support your idol. But you do serve one solid purpose and that is to remind the world of what type of person is attracted to Joe Arpaio. By all means-keep posting.

@LegitQuestionsLOVE U 2. My screen shows your comment 2X - duplicated. It's a VOICE NATION problem. Yes my purpose is not to function as a cheerleader. Sorry for you that another POV is so threatening. Sure shows what you are all about.

@JoeArpaioFan@truthseekeraz Liberals are not trolls, They believe in giving everyone a chance. That is the American way. But you represent the nazi/fascist party of NO (repugs) spreading repeatedly your lies, fear and hate just like Hitler did

@sarum I know, totally wierd, huh. Your comments like to disappear and mine like to multiply. Lighten up, I was just joking with you since I don't even know what your comment was (it was deleted, remember).